You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than 12:01 Sunday, Jan. 21). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
- This play takes place in 1916 in the middle of winter during the day. The characters enter into the house of John Wright who was found hung in his bedroom while his wife was downstairs in the kitchen quilting. Mrs. Wright has been accused of murdering her husband. The Sheriff and the County Attorney have come into this house to investigate the scene of the crime which was found by Hale. Mrs. Hale comes along because Mrs Wright had asked for a few things to be brought to her while she was in prison and wanted a women to gather to them. Mrs. Peters is brought along in order to keep Mrs. Hale company while the men investigate the bedroom.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
- The intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken is the discovery of the dead canary in the sewing box.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
-The events take place in this particular time and place because the sheriff and the county attorney are trying to look for a motive behind the murder of Mr. Wright and the two women in the house are the ones who discover the possible motive and due to their gender, the women feel an underlying allegiance to their own gender which influences them to hide this motive from the men. This in turn may lead to the release of Mrs. Wright even though she is more than likely guilty for murder.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
-I'd say the dramatic question of the play is "Why did Minnie Wright/Foster kill her husband?"
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
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6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
- This play takes place in 1916 in the middle of winter during the day. The characters enter into the house of John Wright who was found hung in his bedroom while his wife was downstairs in the kitchen quilting. Mrs. Wright has been accused of murdering her husband. The Sheriff and the County Attorney have come into this house to investigate the scene of the crime which was found by Hale. Mrs. Hale comes along because Mrs Wright had asked for a few things to be brought to her while she was in prison and wanted a women to gather to them. Mrs. Peters is brought along in order to keep Mrs. Hale company while the men investigate the bedroom.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
- The intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken is the discovery of the dead canary in the sewing box.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
-The events take place in this particular time and place because the sheriff and the county attorney are trying to look for a motive behind the murder of Mr. Wright and the two women in the house are the ones who discover the possible motive and due to their gender, the women feel an underlying allegiance to their own gender which influences them to hide this motive from the men. This in turn may lead to the release of Mrs. Wright even though she is more than likely guilty for murder.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
-I'd say the dramatic question of the play is "Why did Minnie Wright/Foster kill her husband?"
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
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6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?